BEULAH, Mich. (AP)  A jury convicted a man Wednesday of first-degree murder in the death of his wife, whose bloodied body was found in a lake at a northern Michigan resort after she asked him for a divorce.

Mark Unger stood silently when the verdict was read.

After deliberating four days, jurors accepted prosecutors' contention that he pushed Florence Unger from atop a boathouse rooftop deck to a concrete slab 12 feet down, then dragged her unconscious body into Lower Herring Lake to finish her off and stage an accident.

The 37-year-old victim had filed for divorce after her husband, a former mortgage banker and part-time radio sportscaster from suburban Detroit, underwent therapy for alcohol and drug abuse, then failed to hold down a job. He fought to preserve the marriage, witnesses testified.

Judge James Batzer ordered Unger, 45, held without bond until sentencing, for which no date was set. First-degree murder carries an automatic penalty of life in prison without parole.

Defense attorney Robert Harrison promised to appeal.

The defense contended that Unger passionately loved his wife and could never harm her. They said she could have slipped and tumbled over the railing or suffered a seizure and fallen into the water.

Unger, who did not testify, told investigators he left his wife on the deck on Oct. 24, 2003, and went to their rented cottage to see the children. He said that when he returned, she was gone.

Florence Unger's father and other witnesses testified she feared the dark, casting doubt that she had stayed alone on the deck.

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